Many performance venues, such as theaters and sports arenas, allow prospective spectators to reserve seats in advance. Oftentimes, the advance reservation of seats is a practical necessity, as the performance venue will be quickly sell out of available seats. Increasingly, the reservation of seats in advance (most typically in the form of advance ticket purchases) is accomplished remotely from the performance venue. For instance, many reservations are made over the Internet. Additionally, electronic ticket kiosks are also frequently used. Even if seats are reserved in advance at a performance venue box office, it may not be possible to physically view the venue at the time reservations are made.
In an attempt to facilitate seat selection, many reservation systems will display a seating chart of the performance venue. A typical seating chart shows block representations of the seats and may generally indicate the location of the performance space, such as a stage, court or field. These seating charts are often not to scale, and even when they are, they ordinarily fail to represent more than the general location of the seats.